Putting the ghost in the machine: exploring human-machine hybrid virtual patient systems for health professional education
- Published
- Accepted
- Subject Areas
- Human-Computer Interaction, Computer Aided Design
- Keywords
- natural language processing, virtual patients, education informatics
- Copyright
- © 2016 Topps et al.
- Licence
- This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ PrePrints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
- Cite this article
- 2016. Putting the ghost in the machine: exploring human-machine hybrid virtual patient systems for health professional education. PeerJ PrePrints 4:e1659v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.1659v1
Abstract
Background: Virtual patient authoring tools provide a simple means of creating rich and complex online cases for health professional students to explore. However, the responses available to the learner are usually predefined, which limits the utility of virtual patients, both in terms of replayability and adaptability. Using artificial intelligence or natural language processing is expensive and hard to design. This project description lays out an alternative approach to making virtual patients more adaptable and interactive. Methods: Using OpenLabyrinth, an open-source educational research platform, we modified the interface and functionality to provide a human-computer hybrid interface, where a human facilitator can interact with learners from within the online case scenario. Using a design-based research approach, we have iteratively improved our case designs, workflows and scripts and interface designs. The next step is to robustly test this new functionality in action. This report describes the piloting and background as well as the rationale, objectives, software development implications, learning designs, and educational intervention designs for the planned study. Results: The costs and time required to modify the software were much lower than anticipated. Facilitators have been able to handle text input from multiple concurrent learners. Learners were not discouraged waiting for the facilitator to respond. Discussion: The implementation and use of this new technique seems very promising and there are a great many ways in which it might be used for training and assessment purposes. This report also explores the provisional implications arising from the study so far.
Author Comment
This draft will soon be submitted to PeerJ for full peer review. The pre-print copy is posted because it is immediately needed as reference work for other projects.
Supplemental Information
Manuscript in DOCX format
Same as PDF, in case you find DOCX easier to work with.
Turker Script example
Example script for scenario facilitator or Turker. Referred to in the text. Also contained within the example case on our server.
Turk Talk tutorial
Lengthier explanation and screenshots of what the users see and what the facilitator sees during a session. Made as supplementary material so as not to clutter up the master manuscript.